


Moom-in the Flesh

by Emmandroid



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-18 19:51:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8173907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmandroid/pseuds/Emmandroid
Summary: Taeyong brings his brother to the store to buy a book. What Renjun turns up with though is a boy, who he thinks looks just like Moomin. Taeyong struggles to see the resemblance - But he does look like his type.





	

How cute

Was Taeyong's first thought when his brother Renjun started developing a childlike fancy on Moomin. It started innocuously enough - an aunt had given him a box set of the original series one Christmas and they marathoned it together all through the rest of their holiday break. The siblings agreed that Little Mai was a diva, but they didn't mind. The show was oddly endearing and the Moomins were adorable. 

Taeyong thought that by the end of 78 episodes, surely the novelty of the series would have faded for Renjun (ten did it for him), but no, he was still inconsolably hooked. The good thing though was that Taeyong never ran out of presents for Renjun - a notebook for his birthday, a plushie the next Christmas, and then a blanket set when he started a part time job and could afford a more expensive gift. And every single time, his brother would smile up at him with that snaggle-toothed grin that was so characteristically Renjun and loop his arms around his neck until they'd fall into a giggling heap on the floor, breathless and happy. Taeyong would ruffle his brother's hair before they'd get up and then Renjun would thank him one more time, tell him he was the best hyung in the universe, and scamper off to his room with present in hand.

It was when Renjun wouldn't eat anything other than those Moomin gateau that it started to be a bit concerning. They were good, to their credit, but Renjun had insisted on having nothing but those because they had Moomin on the label. He caved soon enough because of course the kid couldn't eat those forever (although he still only brings that particular snack to school), but still the incident gave Taeyong pause, that maybe what was then simply an adorable fascination had already changed into a troubling fixation.

Now, a few months later, as he's getting ready to accompany his brother (on an otherwise lazy Saturday morning) to the bookstore to get a copy of some just released Moomin illustrated novel, he is sure that what his brother has for that hippo creature is nothing short of an obsession. And it is most definitely no longer cute.

“Renjun-ah, we have to go!” Taeyong yells from down the stairs, frustrated and still very much sleepy. 

His brother had ungraciously stormed into his room and shook him like a snow globe, telling him to get up and that this was “the big day.” His smile was a dazzling sight for tired eyes but it didn't change the fact that it was seven in the morning and his brother was forcing him out of his bed. It also confused him how Renjun had even gotten into his room before he realized that he'd never really worn out his habit of keeping his door unlocked, from when a then younger Renjun would come to him crying, in the middle of the night, because he was startled up from a bad dream and needed his brave Taeyong hyung to wrap him up in his arms (he said it physically shielded him from the monsters).

And now bathed and ready to go out, Taeyong is a little miffed that Renjun still is upstairs dawdling. He finally surfaces though, eventually, and his getup gives absolutely no doubt to where they're heading - that Moomin shirt their mom had given him a few years ago, which he still stubbornly wears even though it shows a stretch of his midriff when he so much as waves his arms; the gaudy, bright orange, printed socks he regrets buying him, because they hurt his eyes like reflectors in the sunlight; and the Moomin light-up sneakers he regrets buying even more than the socks because Renjun is already fifteen and he should have stopped wearing them five years ago.

“Ready, hyung!” he cheerfully exclaims, bounding down the steps two at a time. Taeyong is still a little miffed about this little excursion, and his eyes are still a little sore from looking at his brother's outfit, but he can't help but crack a smile when Renjun displays such consummate enthusiasm, although it only ever is for Moomin. He holds out his hand then retracts it, thinking better than to offer to walk a fifteen-year old with their hands latched together. Renjun takes it back from its despondent place at his side though, clasping their hands together so casually like he were still that little boy Taeyong used to take out for ice cream with their parents’ money. It briefly startles him, and he probably freezes in his nostalgic musings, because Renjun is tugging at his hand and he reckons they should probably go.

The bookstore is at an abstruse distance from their house - neither far enough to require any sort of vehicular transportation, nor close enough to travel without having to talk. And Taeyong only now realizes just how long it's been since he's talked to his brother apart from asking to pass the gravy at the dinner table. It's weird and just a bit sad. He decides to broach conversation. “So...how's school?”

Renjun seems not to expect the question, seemingly content to while their time walking in his private bubble of thought, mind somewhere between the bookshop and Moomin Valley. “Uhm, okay I guess.”

“Good.” Good, he thinks. He's asked him about school. But there's still a good fifteen minutes of pavement separating them and their destination, and Renjun is already looking back down, consciousness drifting away from their present location. He has to keep this up. “Do you have a favorite subject?”

“Art I guess. My teacher lets me draw Moomin.”

“That's nice. I can never get his jaw right.”

“Tell me about it.” And it's an insult to his decent at best artistic abilities, but he sees the corner of Renjun’s lips tugging slightly so he doesn't really mind.

“What about a subject you don't particularly like? Any of those?”

Renjun makes an audible exhale, seemingly contemplating whether or not to answer. “PE.”

“Why? Do they pick on you?” Taeyong knows his brother is not the athletic type, being lanky and soft in demeanor, and his obsession with Moomin probably strikes some of his classmates as oddly immature, but he can't bring himself to imagine him teased by his peers. That is his baby brother after all.

“Sometimes,” he mutters, just barely there as if hesitant to admit. “They make fun of me for liking Moomin, and I'm always picked last in games. It's because they say I look weak, and they're only fifteen but they already boast about going to the gym.”

“Well, I'll tell you what, Jun. I went through the exact same thing in school. But you know what?” he pauses, waiting for Renjun to look up at him, eyes sparkling like he were about to be let on a grand secret. “If you ignore them, they'll lose interest. Because they know they can't get to you. And when you get older and you're already in college, there'll be no more bullies.”

“Really? No more bullies?”

“Not one. Because the bullies in your school won't have high enough grades to get into your university.” And they laugh - small sniggers between the two of them. He doesn't know how long this has been going or how long it's been bothering him, but Taeyong's glad that Renjun has something to look forward to beyond the pubescent teasing of middle school.

They converse on a few, more mundane topics until the marquee of the bookstore is within sight and Renjun lets go of his hand to sprint to the shop. He jogs over to where his brother is standing excitedly by the entrance and opens the door for him, hearing a soft gasp from the younger as his eyes rake over the high shelves and multitude of paperbacks and references neatly housed within. And at the very end is a little display advertising what they came here for - the release of a commemorative Moomin illustrated novel. 

Taeyong leans down and taps his brother's shoulder, breaking him out of his awe to give a few reminders. “Alright, Renjunnie, why don't you get that book and then look around some? I'll be right over there at the fiction section, got it?”

“Yes, hyung!” the younger agreeably beams, and Taeyong's precaution to only walk when inside the bookstore stays at the tip of his tongue, Renjun already running off and disappearing among the walls of books and people. He sighs, though without actual exasperation, and proceeds to where the novels are at the left wing of the store.

He has two or three books he's considering buying when he feels a tug at the hem of his sweater, and sure enough there's Renjun grinning up at him with that sunshine snaggle-tooth smile. There's an almost dazed sheen to his eyes though that Taeyong can't put a finger on until his eyes trail over to where his brother's hand is clasped onto a wrist which is absolutely not his. 

Renjun seems to notice his panic, written in his bulging eyes and skin now drained of color, instantly retracting his hand that's gripping the stranger's and parting his mouth to explain. “Hyung! So I was looking around the store like you said, then this girl sees the novel in my hands and tells me that Moomin was here. At first I thought she was kidding because of course Moomin wouldn't be here, she was being ridiculous, but then she told me she saw him browsing through novels. And I realized it wouldn't hurt to try because that was where you were anyway, so I went to the fiction section and oh my gosh this guy looks just like Moomin!” 

Renjun is breathless after his speech, which Taeyong only understood a few words of from how fast his brother was talking. And Renjun is pointing at the stranger now, the one whose wrist he was holding, and Taeyong's eyes trace ascent from said wrist to his face.

And holy cow this guy is good-looking.

He's smiling shyly, probably embarrassed but also endeared at having been dragged around the store by some random kid, a tinge of pink marring his otherwise pearlescent skin and dimples blossoming on his cheeks. His hair is chestnut brown and falls in wisps onto his forehead, and Taeyong is starting to see the slight resemblance with Moomin in the softness of his jaw - the jaw he could never get right. And then Moomin boy is laughing and extending a hand; “Hi, I'm Jaehyun.”

He takes it, thanking the heavens that his palm isn't sweating yet, returning the greeting with his own introduction. “Hi, I'm Taeyong, and this here is my brother Renjun, who I'm sure you've met. I apologize - he's just a really huge fan of Moomin.”

“So I've noticed,” he replies, and Taeyong feels like captain obvious because of course Renjun is a fan of Moomin - he's wearing him from head to toe.

“See! Doesn't he look like Moomin, hyung?”

“Renjun, keep your voice down,” he reprimands in whisper, holding onto his brother's shoulder to stop him from bouncing up and down. “Okay, he looks like Moomin,” he agrees to pacify the younger, mouthing sorry to Jaehyun, who just shrugs it off with an arresting eye smile. “Thank you for showing me, Jun. So now will you let Jaehyun go back to browsing novels in peace?”

“I'm actually done, so it's really not a problem.”

“Oh. Oh good.”

There's a few seconds of silence after that, Renjun still flushed with excitement while the older two scuff their sneakers on the rich carpet and stare shyly at each other from behind their nodded heads.

“So,” Taeyong clears his throat, “did you get that book, Renjunnie?”

“Yeap!” he gleefully responds, raising his arm with the book straight up like a ramrod, brandishing the colorful cover for Taeyong to see.

“I guess we should pay for it then,” he enunciates slowly, the cue that their chance conversation with Jaehyun is over, although he really wants to get his number.

“Well, duh. We can't just walk out of here without paying, hyung.”

“Of course, Jun. Uh, bye then, Jaehyun. It was nice meeting you.”

They're turning to leave for the cashier when Jaehyun pipes up, “Hey, where are you guys headed after this?”

“Going ho-” Renjun starts, but Taeyong beats him to it.

“Ice cream! Renjun and I were going to get some ice cream. Would you like to come with us?”

“I would love to.”

“Awesome. Meet us outside?”

“Yeah. I'll...just wait outside. See you.” Then Jaehyun is waving, and he's waving back, and Renjun pushes him toward the direction of the counter before his feet take him opposite or give out.

\---

“You know, hyung,” Renjun proffers with mild amusement as the cashier scans their item and puts it in a bag, “I think you might finally get Moomin’s jaw right.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is so bad, I cry. Hope it was alright?


End file.
